Monthly Archives: July 2011

The unicist historical research model is based on the unicist ontology of evolution considering that the structure “thesis-antithesis-synthesis” is inexistent. The “simple” dialectic is an over-simplification to foster voluntarism.

The unicist ontology of evolution considers that natural evolution is ruled by a double dialectic behavior:

1) Thesis-antithesis

2) Thesis – homeostasis

The integration of both dialectics defines the ontological structure of a given reality. The unicist methodology of historical research is based on the analysis of events and their inclusion in an ontological structure.

This explains history integrating the descriptive, interpretative, anthropological and ontological approaches. This methodology considers ideologies as a part of the structure, but avoids ideological contamination in history.

The four segments to approach history are:

The descriptive approach

It is a chronological description of the facts of history. It can be restricted to a particular fact or include its context. It gives equal weight to important and less important events.

The interpretative approach

It is a description focused on important events, excluding those the author does not see as important. It usually includes the qualification of the events to explain their inclusion or exclusion.

The anthropological approach

It is a description of the events describing the facts structured by the knowledge of the anthropological invariables. It includes a functional description of the events and the functional relation between them.

The ontological approach

It is a description of the events describing the facts structured by the knowledge of the ontological structure of the reality under research. It requires the knowledge of the ontological structure of a reality and the use of the unicist logic to be able to define the functionality of the events.

Unicist ontological research of history

The unicist research of history includes the four approaches. Thus the more segments are covered by the researchers the more objective the conclusions of historical research are.

NOTE: The Unicist Research Institute is a pioneer in complexity science research. More than 4,000 ontological researches were developed since 1976 until July 2011 in the field of individual, institutional and social evolution, including the development of ontology based and business object driven solutions for businesses.

We are republishing the information included in the book “Growth Crisis 2008-2010!” to provide information on what we consider is the nature of the European conjuncture.

The history of the crisis has two basic preconditions and two main triggering causes.

The preconditions are the fall of the communist system and the use of consumerism in order to sustain scarcity as an economic driver.

The two triggering causes were the technological plateau and shareholders dominance in economic organizations.

The dot.com “prelude” was a demonstration of the technological plateau and of shareholders’ dominance using the money of the “market”.

Considering the forecast made using the unicist ontology of evolution, the recovery from the crisis will be based on a structural change of the rules of the game.

Economy will be much more institutionalized with two extreme different solutions.

Those who believe in bottom-up development will develop strong institutions to inhibit the entropy of the economic system.

Those who believe in top-down development will develop institutions to control the market. In the middle, there will be different solutions to catalyze the market growth.

Considering similar economic structures, bottom-up approaches will grow faster than top-down approaches. Top-down approaches will develop in a more secure and slower way and with a higher risk of corruption.

Feudalist capitalism, where there is no real participation of the market in the property of companies will develop naturally towards a top-down approach.

Denial of the crisis is a natural response when structures quake. Denial has two aspects. The positive aspect is that it avoids uncontrollable changes. The negative aspect is that it inhibits the evolution of counter-cycles.

Globalization, being a controversial word in the past, will begin to make sense in order to build the new economic system.

The different types of democracy will develop their bottom-up and top-down trade-offs in order to maintain their participation model.

Businesses have the responsibility to survive and at the same time to develop growth counter-cyclical strategies.

The necessary condition to build a counter-cycle is the development of a niche market. These niche markets behave like parallel realities.

To access a counter-cyclical effect it is necessary to change the concept of what is being offered to the market. The concept to be introduced might be redundant with the existing concept, with the implicit risk of cannibalization. It also might be complementary generating an adjacent market.

The introduction of a different concept of product or service does not generate a counter-cycle. Counter-cycles require also the existence of credibility and trust. Its implementation requires similar or complementary products and services but based on a different concept.

NOTE: The Unicist Research Institute is the pioneering complexity science research organization developing solutions for complex adaptive systems using ontogenetic ontologies and object driven technologies. More than 3,500 ontological researches were developed since 1976 until September 2010 in the field of individual, institutional and social evolution.

In order to develop a historical research it is necessary to have a mature relation with the history to be researched. That implies having a respectful and adapted attitude towards the specific reality and having the need to unveil the history to add value to the environment.

Rationalistic approaches lead, in the best case, to interpretative and descriptive historical researches.

The methodological steps to follow in the research are:

1. Detailed description of the chronicle of the history under research. It includes only the restrictive context defining the beneficiaries and the damaged of each event.

2. Isolate the most significant events. Significance is defined by the importance of the benefits and the damage of events.

3. Define the events as objects (see glossary), describing the driving function, the energy conservation function and the purpose of each event.

4. Describe the driving function, the energy conservation function and the purpose of the context of the event.

5. Build a concept map of the history under research.

6. Evaluate the evolution occurred in the context after the event occurred.

7. Redefine the event considering its significance in the environment.

8. Describe the events structured by the knowledge of the anthropological invariables. It includes a functional description of the events and the functional relations between them.

9. Describe the events structured by the knowledge of the ontological structure of the reality under research.

10. Analyze the taboos which are affected by the historical research.

11. Publish the history that can be accepted by the environment under research.

12. Keep the non-published information in a special file so it can be published when the appropriate time has come.

Conclusions

Doing historical research implies making a diagnosis of a given reality. Therefore it must be considered that the language to be used is not only the scientific one but also the language that can be read and accepted by the members of the community or institution involved.

That is why historical information is often considered classified to avoid damaging publics’ feelings.

History researchers have to be aware that they deal with the taboos, myths and utopias of the community. Dealing with these subjects requires a respectful, careful and subtle approach to scientific knowledge.

To be able to understand this methodology, it is necessary to comprehend the unicist methodology of complex systems research and the unicist ontology of evolution.

NOTE: The Unicist Research Institute is a pioneer in complexity science research. More than 4,000 ontological researches were developed since 1976 until July 2011 in the field of individual, institutional and social evolution, including the development of ontology based and business object driven solutions for businesses.